General Objective

To simplify course management, encourage students to take responsibility their choices and enhance learning outcomes.

My 3000-level class has substantial written assignments due every week. Instead of handling late work or makeups individually, I use the Hail Mary Pass.

At the beginning of the semester, every student gets two Hail Mary passes, personalized with their names. The conditions for using the pass are printed on the pass.

Each Hail Mary Pass “buys” one opportunity to make up a regular homework assignment for partial credit, or to avoid being dinged for an absence beyond the “allowed” absences, within the limits stated on the pass.

All Hail Mary Passes and any late assignments are submitted on one day only, Makeup Day, the last day of class before finals. Students who do not have work to make up or excessive absences can redeem their unused passes for their face value in extra credit.

The Pass relieves me of most of the administrative annoyances arising from tracking and managing late submissions. Everyone gets exactly the same degree of flexibility and I can grade everything at once. Students love the Passes because they are fair and yet humane.

Three Problem-Solvers “Hail Mary Pass” — “Early Bird Special” — “The Deal”

Anne-Marie Bouché

College of Arts and Sciences, Bower School of Music and the Arts

The Early Bird Special is an Extra Credit opportunity that I use in 2000-level survey classes. It is offered now and then, at random intervals, especially when I notice attendance flagging, when students need extra help with a concept, or when I want to introduce a little fun and variety.

It consists of a single sheet of paper with 1-3 critical-thinking or concept-capture questions on it, and is distributed only to those students who arrive before the official class start-time. Some are to be completed after class, others during the class. They always relate to class content or a planned theme of class discussion.

Early Bird Specials have improved on-time attendance and focus at the start of class, without creating a punitive or nagging environment.

They enlarge the coverage footprint of the class, in a way that students find especially digestible and memorable.

Students like the challenge and variety, and often cite Early Bird Specials when I ask, in my exit survey, which course materials they found the most helpful for learning course content.

I have strict policies about late submission and makeups. That at least is the theory. In practice, though, there is usually at least one student who gets in trouble and risks failing or losing eligibility for something like a scholarship. Belatedly, they want me to waive the policy and let them make up missing work.

If the damage to the grade is not beyond repair, and the semester’s end is still some weeks away, I will let the student make up ONE missing assignment at the end of the semester, but ONLY if certain conditions are met. I write the conditions down on a sheet, which I give to the student:

(1) They cannot miss any more assignments(2) They cannot miss any more classes(3) At the end, they must be within a 20 points of the needed grade, such that one partial-credit makeup assignment would give them the points they need to salvage their semester.(4) They must contact me to claim their Deal, paper in hand, within a specified time-frame after the grade for the final is posted.

For most students, this simple device really works. Students who receive a Deal usually improve their performance enough to earn the grade they need, without needing to submit a late assignment. The physical contract seems to give them hope and something concrete to work towards. I only have to look at a small number of makeups and do no complicated grading at the last minute. And I have no need to remember what I agreed to; it is on the paper!

Hail Mary Pass

Early Bird Special The Deal